Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-01-20


1885, aggregated S416, 1854 divided among the
several funds follows: General revenue,
sl1I G72. G5; library, 81, 345); insurance 81, 10 -
State House, S2S.iO2.5i; sinking fund. sl-S95fI
interest fund 81 1905 militia, 2. 43116; veter
mary, ~. III; permanent school fund s5O56O-
\ rs; annual school fund. s1l1 ,61s9O; University
permanent fund, 81, -, and interest 81 ,24S5
| Normal School permanent fund, sl,S91.2l, and
interest, ssf7.5l; Agricultural College endow-
Ilent fund, s14,s41.76, and Agricultural College
! income fund, 81 ,742.S7.
| STATE PROPERTY AND TAXATION.
During the past quarter of century the State
has been erecting public buildings that will sur
vive for centuries To come. and paying for them,
not by issuing bonds. but by direct taxation IL
has built large asyluIns for the cure OF the I'M
i fortunate, the helpless and the insane 1t has
erected colleges. universities and schools for the
education OF its youth; II has provided lnst1lu-
tons for the confinement OF the vicious ana the
! criminal, and for the reformation OF the way
ward and il is building handsome ard con-
| modious, though not eztrava9ant. State House.
| It's public buildings and grounds, with their
| equipment, are worth at IL moderate estimate.
over 8, 10000.
THE Governor gives q tabulated statement
| showing the total value OF public buildings and
grounds to be S5,0SOO1s.l
Considering the expenditures thus made in
| pr 0viding public institutions for Z new and
| growing Commonwealth. the burdens OF taxa
| tion imposed by the State have never been ex-
! cessive:o It's government has. q rule. been
|
| officers have been moderate. Its Indebtedness
| is very small. The percentage of taxation an
| nuaIly levied for State purposes, rarely large,
] has been steadily decreasing during the past
fourteen years until, for the present fiscal year,
| it is less than one-half that levied in 1872
MUNICIPAL DEBTS AND TAXATION.
But Notwithstanding this steady reduction in
the percentage of State taxation. the tax bur
! dens in nearly every county are irksome. The
| rapid and enormous increase OF property valua-
haS O corresponding decrease
the percentage of tax levied by the municipal
authorities. In many counties and cities, in
deed, the tax rates have steadily increased.
Worse than ALL too the aggregate OF municipal
Indebtedness is rapidly ard enormously swell
ing, until it has reached proportions that should
alarm every citizen who has at heart the pros
perity CT the State and the well-being OF its
people.
called the attention OF the Legislature to this
subject in my biennial message OF 1885, and
again in my special message OF 1896, and earn
estly urged that stringent limitations be placed
on the debt-creating and tax-levying authority
OF counties, townships and cities. No action
was taken. however, and the municipal subdi-
visions of the State have gone on, voting bonds,
and piling up interest bearing debts that will
in few years, cripple and dishearten every
energy and ambition of their people, and para
lyze all public spirit.
Two years ago the municipal Indebtedness of
the State aggregated SIS 951, $50. or this amount
the county indebtedness aggregated S. O55 74S. 90
A.
school district, a. 74S, 1880. On the 1st of Jan
uary, 1897, this dreadful burden of local indebt
edness had increased to S19.397, S51.
Here tabulated statement is given showing
that OF this amount county township and city
bonds to the amount of S12,0S3,01S have been
voted and issued to railroads, and 81, S33 for
all other purposes, making grand total OF
S19,397 S51. IN addition, since January l, 1885,
county, township and city bonds have been
voted, but not yet issued, for railroads S11,1t6,
AZ Total.
$11 ,222, coo.
If all the bonds thus voted were issued the
municipal Indebtedness Of Kansas would be as
follows:
Io"nship. 9'4lo,3Oo
City. INSTRUMENTATION. 800 AZ.
School District northumberland. S,oj0 410
Total ............. . $50, G19s 51
Tt is hardly probable H.owever that half OF the
bonds voted. h,rS not yet issued, viii ever
be earned But the aggregate of our municipal
indebtedness. even ii one-half of the bonds |
voted should never be issued, will exceed S25,- !
100000, and it seems to me time to pat stop |
firmly ana thoroughly to this wasteful extrava- |
gance. Vast as are the resources of our State. |
wonderful as its growth has been and bright as |
its prospects are, neither the productiveness |
and development of the present nor the hopes OF I
the future viii Justify continuance OF such |
reckless folly in bond-voting. |
RAILROAD BONDS
L
already issued and s1, $4,000 of those voted but
not yet issued, have been voted to aid in build |
ing railroads. This system of bond-vOting to |
build railroads began twenty years ago and !
continued for nearly a decade. Then came q |
period of business and industrial depression, |
followed by an area of attempted Reputation, |
the effects OF which still lingering in the |
courts. Three years ago another epidemic nf |
railroad bond-voting broke out, and has since |
spread throughout nearly every section of the |
State. The most conservative communities |
have yielded to the cOntagion, and the allah |
sorbing ambition of every county and town in |
the State seems to be 10 secure railroads.
1t would not be just to deprive counties hav- |
ing 70 railroads of the powers other counties |
have, thus far. exercised. But if all authority |
20 vote bonds in aid of, take stock in, rail- |
roads was denied to any county now traversed |
by one or more lines OF railway, no injustice |
would be done, nor would the building of any |
legitimate or needed line Of railway be retarded
or prevented. AS long, however, as counties, |
townships or cities are permitted to vote bonds |
FOR such purposes, just so long will the bond |
voting continue One community will vote ad- |
ditonal Indebtedness itself because, if it does
not, IL may lose advantages il has already |
paid immense Suns OF money TO secure. In /
this age railroads make and unmake cities |
ana towns, and hence j fiourishing community on |
whose commerce and industries the prosperity /
OF hundreds OF thousands or people depend, may !
be destroyed by The building OF two rail- |
ways. Confronted by the alternative of voting !
bonds of seeing the Accommodations and labors !
OF years destroyed, the people, with or without
the approval of their Judgment, vote the
bonds" They can not afford TO do otherwise. |
It is, on the one hand. the assumption of bur
denSome debt, or, on the other hand, the de-
struction of al their hopes and, possibly, their
financial ruin.
If, however, all authority to vote bonds in aid
OF railroads was revoked. except in counties
having no railway lines within their limits this
bond-voting under duress would cease. Such
railroads rs the carrying trade of the State viii
support. and all lines demanded by legitimate
business interests, would be built by honest
railway enterprise, without regard to local aid.
Any other railroads than these not, and
never will be of advantage TO the State. \
starving railroad is not benefit-it is curse to
the communities ii pretends to serve. Because